FAC4QR: Torquay United v Winchester City 3pm 20/10/18

Looking forward to the draw on Monday!Home game please.

A nice comfortable win and a really decent turn out of 2,202. Winchester made it difficult for Torquay and gave their all and they brought a decent vocal and colourful following of I guess around 200. Sponsors MOTM going to Asa Hall who is turning out to be our best midfielder we have had for years, arguably since Hargreaves. He is just the sort of midfield general we have needed to boss the vital area. He has tremendous work rate, tackling ability and today I was reminded how good and accurate his range of passing is.

My first pleasant surprise today was the huge queue to get into the match around 2:40pm. Winchester fans were making most of the noise up until Torquay's first goal after 30 odd minutes. Torquay were being held quite comfortably and Winchester worked hard and defended well. Torquay had a couple of close efforts including a close range effort that was cleared off the line. Torquay were struggling a little but got the vital breakthrough in fortunate circumstances. A long range effort from Kalala took a wicked defelction and found the back of the net. It should be noted that it was thanks to Edwards who used his pace to catch up a Winchester player and rob the ball off him and then found Kalala for the first goal.

Two more goals followed before half-time that effectively killed the tie and the home crowd found its voice and enjoyed it.Jamie Reid did not score today but he was full of confidence on the ball and did some great work in the build ups. It was Reid's deft cross that gave Janneh his first goal for Torquay with a close range effort. I thought Janneh was disappointing today often having a poor first touch and not being clinical in front of goal. In added time a lovely back flick from Reid put through Lemonheigh-Evans in the box, his shot was saved but put away the rebound. 3-0 was very harsh on Winchester and we all knew there was no coming back.

Lemonheigh-Evans scored our fourth after 55 minutes, his low shot had too much pace for their keeper and went under him. Lemonheigh-Evans had a terrific match in midfield and is an exciting player to watch. He made up for the loss of Andrews today and stepped up to the plate. Torquay missed a bagful of chances to score more. Keating looked lively when he came on as a substitute showed good energy and pace down our left. He laid one low cross for Reid to tap in but Reid failed to connect. MacDonald handed Winchester a penalty by losing possession of the ball at his feet and then fouling the Winchester player trying to retrieve the ball.

So it was another impressive display from Gary Johnson's yellow army. Once the first goal went in Torquay settled down and at times played some delightful football with some good probing and incisive football around the opposition box. Our movement off the ball is so much better under Johnson. You can tell the players are enjoying themselves and it is great to see the way Gary Johnson goes around the pitch at the end of the match with the players applauding the fans. Even his wife could be seen sat next to Thea but sadly lost her glasses when Torquay scored their first goal! There's such a good positive and united feel around Plainmoor these days thanks to Gary Johnson.

Funny enough Swanny, Hall remains me very much of Hargreaves in his game.